CBC Revenue Group

CBC-TV's the fifth estate uncovers the brutal secret world of Moammar Gadhafi

Oct 3, 2011

Rousted from his palace, on the run from his own people, a new and harrowing picture of the fallen dictator emerges--Friday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT).

For years he had been the eccentric leader of Libya, putting forward a newer, gentler face to the world. But behind the façade--and the walls of his fabled palace--lay the brutal, horrifying truth about Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.

On Friday, Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT), on CBC-TV, the fifth estate's Gillian Findlay presents Colonel Gadhafi: Palace of Secrets, the inside story of Gadhafi's rise to power and to infamy--from those who knew him, feared and loathed him.

It has only been a few short months since the uprising against Libya's ruthless dictator began. Not long ago, Gadhafi was still confidently proclaiming he would crush Libyan rebels like rats. And then, to the astonishment of his people and the wider world, the Gadhafi clan fled Tripoli, leaving behind shocking evidence of his predatory 42-year rule. We travel inside his gilded palace, where the 'humble desert philosopher' clearly lived a lavish life. And we see the ruin he left behind, as his loyalists slaughtered citizens even as they retreated.

Colonel Gadhafi: Palace of Secrets features powerful interviews with people who have visited Libya since the regime collapsed, including Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch, whose team located secret intelligence documents in Tripoli highlighting close relations between Libya and the West. New York Times Magazine reporter, Robert Worth witnessed first-hand the depths of depravity of the Gadhafi regime, at a warehouse attached to a police station. "I walked over and took a look, the door was open, and inside, were dozens and dozens of skulls and vertebrae, bones, human bones, some of them broken ... someone had set this whole thing on fire.

For 75 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analysis and the personalities that matter to Canadians. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada is celebrating 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.